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Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Brace Yourselves

At least, those of you who are LDS like me had better brace yourselves. The Washington Post is predicting that Mormonism will be the distraction/interrogation of the month in September, because everything else Obama and his team have tried against Romney has failed. What's more, Romney has risen in credible polls, took Israel and Poland by storm, and will soon choose a running mate. Obama is getting desperate. If the Washington Post, liberal as it is and connected to the Democrats in Washington as it is, is willing to admit as much and engage in speculation like this, then you may rest assured it will happen. Not that "Mormonism" has ever been off the table, as previously claimed by the Obama campaign. They just have news media do the dirty work for them, as liberal politicians always do. The benefits of a complicit media. An excerpt for you:

Obama will figure out a few more promises he can make to lure voters to the dole, but that has become old hat. I really believe there are meetings at the Obama campaign and at the White House (what's the difference?) where the question on the table is, "What can we give away to whom that will get us votes?" As the Obama campaign exhausts itself, having misspent money and failed with its messages too early in the election cycle, it is near the bottom of the barrel. The final 100 days are here and all Obama can do is attack — but he needs some new material.
I look for the "September surprise" to be Mormonism on trial. At first the attacks will come from marginal surrogates, then the reliable half-cocked usual suspects among Democrats in Congress. (Somebody cue Debbie Wasserman Schultz.) Next, a member of the left's apologencia from the MSM will write a cerebral, somber piece saying the tenets of Mormonism are fair game, and then we will be off to Slimytown. Romney will be confronted with this or that Mormon practice or theological position, the late-night comics will weigh in and Obama will have a distraction that could linger while he hopes for a break or something external to change the trajectory of the race.

Lest you misunderstand, I do not fear the exposure for the LDS Church or its members. We only stand to gain by a closer inspection, provided it is genuine and not falsified, as verified by a study in May. Mormons are not trying to hide anything. What does bother me (us?) is that so much is misrepresented and taken out of context by the news media. As a reminder, the core teaching of the LDS Church is to follow Jesus Christ. All else is peripheral.

For a democracy to be successful and for government to reflect and uphold the will of the people, it is imperative that citizens take their voting responsibility seriously enough to be well informed. The first step is understanding that there is no such thing as fair and balanced coverage anymore, including the polls and fact-checkers. Including both sides in your sources of information is essential to forming an educated opinion. Both sides leave things out. For example, the leftist news media leaves out the good qualities in Republicans, the Tea Party, conservative causes, etc.

Comments are welcome but civility is required, hence the blog owner approval requirement. We need to have a discussion across partisan divides, not a shouting match. No name-calling will be approved for publishing in the comments.